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Decadents, Symbolists, Anti-Decadents
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A facsimile reprint in the Decadents.... series, edited by R.K.R.Thornton ISBN 1 85477 152 3 174 x 110 mm 168 pages |
HENRY NEWBOLT The Island Race 1898 Newbolt’s speciality was the short narrative poem, emotional and patriotic. In the 1890s, at the high tide of British imperialism, his popularity was immense. But with the 1914-18 war and the vanishing of Edwardian England, he became a case of literary obsolescence. To read these pounding, rollicking, efficient verses now is to appreciate the background against which the subtler rhythyms of Yeats, Dowson, Symons and others strove to be heard. They help to show that the works of that other imperialist, Kipling, and that other high priest of manliness, Housman, are in separate categories. And in their celebration of, and yearning for, loyalty, comradeship, self-sacrifice, and 'playing the game', his verses still possess an emotive power. The Island Race includes Newbolt’s best- known poems, among them ‘Drake’s Drum’, ‘He Fell Among Thieves’, and ‘Vitae Lampada’. £28.50 $48
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